A Personal view of the Internet SubcultureSurrounding the JonBenet Ramsey Murder case

This web page is part of a series covering found materials regarding individuals, items or events that apparently became part of what is commonly known as the vortex of the JonBenet Ramsey murder case Christmas night 1996. The webmaster of this site claims no inside official Boulder police information as to who has been interviewed, investigated, the outcome or what information is actually considered official evidence. These pages outline found material which can include but not limited to materials found in books, articles, the Internet, transcripts, depositions, legal documents, Internet discussion forums, graphics or photos, media reports, TV/Radio shows about the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. Found materials are here for historical archive purposes. (www.acandyrose.com - acandyrose@aol.com)

This webpage series is for historical archive and educational purposes on found materials

SOUTH YARMOUTH - A 45-year-old South Yarmouth man will be arraigned on three counts of child pornography after police alleged he photographed a young girl in his home and kept thousands of sexually explicit photographs.

Police say Robert Laplante had thousands of sexually explicit photos and a cache of dolls and toys in his home.

Robert E. Laplante is to appear this morning in Barnstable District Court.

The police investigation began Friday morning when a school psychologist notified Yarmouth police that a female student had reported being photographed in the nude.

Police discovered thousands of photographs of young females, said Yarmouth Police Lt. Stephen G. Xiarhos. Police also seized videotapes, cameras and several computers.

Laplante was charged with:

Possession of visual materials of child sexual conduct.

Enticement of a child under 16.

Posing a child in the nude.

In addition to the photos, police also found a cache of children's toys, including dozens of Barbie dolls, inside Laplante's home, Xiarhos said. Laplante also had a collection of newspaper clippings of JonBenet Ramsey, the 6- year-old Colorado girl who was found murdered in her home on Christmas night 1996.

A police photo shows a variety of dolls, including life-size mannequins, seized from Robert Laplante's South Yarmouth home.

Police also found weapons in his house, including various homemade knives and swords.

"What we found in his house was very, very disturbing," Xiarhos added.

Xiarhos said the FBI was contacted and is assisting in the investigation.

Xiarhos said the girl who reported being photographed is under the age of 16, and that Laplante, who works at several area motels, became friendly with both her and her parents.

Xiarhos said police believe Laplante offered money or gifts to the girl to coax her into posing for the pictures.

"She is very young. I don't think she realized what he was really doing," he said.

Xiarhos said investigators had worked through only a tenth of the thousands of photos but had not identified any other local students among them.

Police are legally prohibited from releasing information about Laplante's past, including any prior convictions, but Xiarhos said Laplante had never been arrested for or convicted of this type of crime.

Xiarhos said Laplante has lived in Yarmouth for the last two years, but that police were investigating Laplante's past addresses.

In an effort to find any other local victims, Yarmouth police are asking that anyone who knows Laplante or may have seen him call Detective John K. Fallon at 508-775-0445, ext. 118.

Robert Laplante of South Yarmouth pleaded not guilty yesterday to multiple child pornography charges in Barnstable District Court, Assistant District Attorney Brian Glenny said.

Laplante is accused of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, five counts of posing a child nude, enticing a child under 16 to pose nude, and four counts of possessing child pornography.

Laplante, 45, who was ordered held on $250,000 cash bail, was arrested Friday night after a school psychologist notified Yarmouth police that an underage girl had reported being photographed nude by him.

Police obtained a search warrant for Laplante's Wampanoag Road home and arrested him prior to searching the premises.

Xiarhos said that, in addition to machetes and swords, police found videos and photos of nude female children, as well as newspaper clippings of JonBenet Ramsey, a child beauty queen from Colorado whose 1996 murder case received national media attention. Dolls and child-size mannequins were also found in the home, police said.

The five counts of posing a child in the nude referred to five individuals with whom Laplante was involved, police said, and the four counts of possessing child pornography refer to four media types in which the material was stored: videotape, digital and Polaroid photos, and digital video files, they said.

"It's fortunate to say we don't run into this a lot on the Cape," Glenny said. "We'll need to see where we end up." Glenny said police still have to go through a "significant amount of material" before the full breadth of charges and sentences against Laplante can be established.

"It's going to be a massive task," Xiarhos said.

2004-02-18: Laplante had applied to be a foster parent

Laplante had applied to be a foster parent:
http://www.abc6.com/article.php?ID=4566

(Yarmouth-AP) -- A Cape Cod man is behind bars today while police sort through hundreds of pornographic images and other items allegedly found in his home.

Robert Laplante of Yarmouth was ordered held on a quarter of a (m) million dollars bail after pleading innocent yesterday to a number of charges, including possession of child pornography and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

Police arrested Laplante after a young girl reported that she had been photographed in the nude by the 45-year-old maintenance worker.

The Boston Herald reports that Laplante -- a Worcester native who has lived in Yarmouth for about two years -- twice applied to be a foster parent along with his wife. The Department of Social Services says the couple was turned down for reasons that are unclear.

Inside Laplante's home, police also allegedly found dozens of Barbie dolls and a collection of newspaper clippings about JonBenet Ramsey, the six-year-old Colorado girl who was murdered in 1996.

A grand jury charges Robert Laplante of West Yarmouth with offenses involving nine children.
...
Robert Laplante
...
Robert Laplante, 45, of West Yarmouth was indicted on multiple counts of posing, photographing and videotaping children nude or in sexually explicit positions. He is also charged with molesting a young girl.

Specifically, he is charged with:

244 counts of possession of child pornography.
...
Laplante has been held on $250,000 bail since his arrest by Yarmouth police in February. He will be arraigned on these charges at a later date in Barnstable Superior Court. Prior to his arrest he worked as a hotel maintenance worker.

Other recent cases

There are differences between the case of accused child pornographer Robert Laplante and two other Barnstable County men who recently pleaded guilty to related crimes.
...
Assistant District Attorney Brian Glenny said yesterday the difference is between possessing and disseminating pornography and actually creating it, as Laplante is accused of doing.
...
Laplante came to the attention of police this winter after the parents of an elementary school student notified the school psychologist their daughter had been photographed in the nude by an acquaintance.
...
The search warrant filed in February alleges money entered the equation when the little girl asked Laplante to take her to Ryan's Family Amusement.

He allegedly bargained with the child - he would give her money in exchange for posing in bathing suits.

Bathing suit pictures Laplante frequently photographed and videotaped the victim posing on his bed in a bathing suit, police said. The documents indicate Laplante would provide the girl with the bathing suits then leave the room while she changed. However, according to police, during Laplante's absence, a video camera in the bedroom remained operating. The victim was unaware of this, according to the charges issued by the grand jury yesterday.

The victim told police that Laplante loaded some of those images onto a computer in the bedroom, according to the documents.

Laplante paid her as much as $13.50 for those pictures on at least four or five different occasions, records show.